Get Over It

A.W. Tozer wrote, “In today’s society, great numbers of people seem unable to deal with God’s revelation in Christ. They run and hide, just as Adam and Eve did. Today, however, they do not hide behind trees but behind such things as philosophy and reason and even theology.” I have seen too much of this and it makes me sick. People hiding beyond their church, association, or denomination anger me. We debate trivial topics instead of being about the mission given us By Jesus.

Oh, we love to pontificate. We love to make our theological positions known and every one of us is convinced they are correct. I don’t care who is correct about non-essential matters. I only want to make certain I get the essentials right.

Why do we get so wrapped up around things that have no eternal value? At the end of the day, what matters most, if we immerse or sprinkle for baptism, or if someone knows Jesus? Will Christ be more concerned if we have women in leadership or people in Heaven? It’s stupid and it’s a weapon of the enemy. I think deep down we all recognize this. Still, we are more comfortable hiding behind our theological and philosophical debates than discipling our neighbors or opening our homes to someone in need.

One of the books that did more to define my faith than any other was called “Divine Foreknowledge: Four Views”. I came away from that book with a new way of seeing things that have fueled and informed my faith. But you know what, countless others will read the same book and resonate with a different view of foreknowledge than I did. To me, I think that’s okay. I have found my personal view of foreknowledge has explained almost every question I ever had, it makes sense of the parts of the Bible that used to be a mystery to me. But if you have a different opinion that does the same for you, fantastic! Why should we argue? Wouldn’t it be better if we used our momentum to obey the commands of Jesus and live as He lived?

My issue isn’t with differing opinions. I think it’s wonderful people have different takes on the non-essential issues of the Bible. To me, this means we will be able to reach more people than if we all held to a single understanding of the impossible to fully understand God. My issue is with the endless talking and debates we have over what one person believes over another. Time is running out to tell others about Jesus. People are dying without Him every day. Meanwhile, we’re spending our time debating which version of the Bible we should use!

At the end of the day, all that matters is Jesus. He is the Creator of the Universe, the Only Son of God who came to earth to live and die on our behalf. He rose from the grave to prove He had even defeated death. Then He told us to go make disciples of every people group on the planet. We are to do this until He returns to establish His permanent Kingdom here on earth. That’s it! Nothing else matters. Let’s get over ourselves and see the distractions of the devil for what they are. It’s time to unite under the banner of Jesus and tell the world the good news that can be theirs. As for everything else, let’s just get over it.